The British government has identified two men — Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov — as Russian intelligence agents sent by the Kremlin to assassinate Skripal using Novichok, a Russian-made nerve agent.

The RT interview features two men claiming to be Petrov and Boshirov. And their story is, uh, let’s go with “interesting.”

They claim they’re not intelligence officers at all, but rather tourists who were visiting the town of Salisbury, where the attack occurred, on vacation.

Their main reason for going to this completely random British town where a former Russian spy just happened to be living? They really, really wanted to see Salisbury Cathedral, which boasts the tallest spire in Britain.

…The UK called the two men’s comments “lies” after the interview came out. But that, in a way, is the point: Russia created the narrative that the two suspects were just innocent tourists, forcing the British government to respond to the claims.

Russia’s manipulation of the media doesn’t just muddy up the facts; it also turns the truth into a joke.

It’s the perfect encapsulation of Russia’s entire fake news propaganda strategy, which they’ve also used in Syria to deny chemical attacks by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Russian troop presence in Ukraine, and interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.